Preparing hydrocarbon products



Dec. 4, 1928. 1,694,272

E. LOOMIS PREPARING HYDROCARBON PRODUCTS Filed July'l5, 192s uin or. d,12$.

"ETATEANIEL E:-LOOMIS, OF ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 STANDARDOIL DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

PREPARING- HYDROCABBON PROD'U CTS.

Application filed July 13, 1923. Serial No. 651.249.

This invention relates to the art of preparing hydrocarbon products, andwill be fully understood from the following description Very lightcondensates from stills or from natural gas contain some constituentswhich .are normally gaseous, and even in mixture are unstable andfugitive. correspondingly, on exposure such constituents escape and inso doing also carry with them other heavier constituents which wouldotherwise be stable. This occasions considerable losses in theaggregate.

In accordance with the present invention,

' material of this character is blended with heavier naphtha in anabsorber 'tower providing successive temperature 'zones and operatingunder pressure. One fbrin of ap paratus suitable for carrying out theinvention is shown semi-diagrammatically in the accompanying drawing. Inthis tower A has a series of transverse partitions 1 upon which liquidmay temporarily accumulate, but having perforations by which vapors maybubble up through. Along in the middle region of the tower isan inletpipe 2; and at the top an outlet pipe 3 having a pressure-regulatingvalve 4:. Another inlet ipe 5 atthe top preferably ends in a spray liead6. A pipe 7 at the bottom of the tower serves as a draw-0E for liquid. Asuitable regulable cooling means is provided at the top of the tower, asfor instance a 'coil 8 carrying a regulated cooling liquid.

The material containing unstable constituents, as for example a ver Ylight hydrocarbon stock, is introduced t rough pipe 2, while anabsorbing medium such as heavy naphtha is also supplied by pipe 5 at thetop of the tower. Such naphtha may vary in grade, but preferably is suchthat when the product is drawn oflat outlet 7, a gasoline of finished oralmost finished character results. The term heavy naphtha as used hereinis intended to cover hydrocarbon oils generally that have a finalboiling point not materially above that of gasoline and which may beblended with casing-head gasoline or sirpilar light condensates to formsubstantially finished gasoline with a balanced boiling range. I

Pressure is maintained in the tower, varyingsemewlultin accordance withthe particular 'hydrocarbons worked with, but in gen: eral being 100-300lbs. per square inch. In order to insure that all the undesired gaseousconstituents are stripped out heat is supplied to a suitable extent atthe bottom of the tower by a coil 9 carrying a regulated flow of steamor'other heating fluid. Other c0n stituents also vaporizing in the towerare brought into thorough contact with the liquid, in progressivelycooler zones proceeding toward the top and are blended and sorted untilthe constituents passing through outlet 3 are only such as are normallyand not desired in gasoline. The liquid prodnot desired is drawn oil atthe base by pipe 7. The temperature in the still may be from about 260to 300 F., the temperature of the vapors leaving the still ordinarilybeing a few degrees lower than the still temperature. The pressureusually falls p ogressively as the process continues. For example, astill showing an initial pressure of about 200 lbs. per sq. in. may showa pressure of about 100 lbs. per sq. in. after 16 hours running. Thetemperature and pressures will of course vary considerably with theparticular stock being treated and the kind of naphtha used in washing.i

What I claim is: The improvemcnt in the art of preparing hydrocarbonproducts, which comprises in troducinga light condensate containing somehydrocarbons which are normally gaseous into the intermediate region ofan absorber tower, and passing vaporizing constituents up throughprogressively cooler zones, while maintaining a pressure of 100-300 lbs.per square inch and supplying a flow of heavy naphta countercurrently,and drawing off a substantially balanced gasoline from the bottom of thetower.

NATHANIEL E. LOOMIS.

